I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paint spray booth for spray painting articles, such as motor vehicles.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The previously known paint spray booths which are used to paint articles, such as motor vehicles, typically comprise an elongated housing having sidewalls and a horizontal floor which divides the housing into an upper chamber and a lower chamber. The articles are conveyed through the upper chamber of the paint spray booth by a conveyor system on the floor so that the articles are longitudinally spaced from each other along the conveyor system. These articles are spray painted as they are conveyed through the upper housing chamber.
These previously known paint spray booths, furthermore, typically include a plurality of longitudinally spaced air scrubber units which are positioned at longitudinally spaced intervals along the floor. These air scrubber units fluidly connect the upper and lower housing chambers to each other. In operation, fans induct air laden with paint particles from the upper chamber, through the air scrubber units and into the lower chamber. Simultaneously, water is introduced to the air scrubber units which mixes the water and air together. In doing so, paint particles entrained within the air become entrapped within the water which pollutes the water and simultaneously purifies the air. The purified air is exhausted to the atmosphere while the polluted water is collected and conveyed to a sludge and/or water filtration system.
These previously known paint spray booths, however, all suffer from a number of common disadvantages. A primary disadvantage of many of these previously known paint spray booths is that the floor which divides the paint spray booth into its upper and lower housing chambers is spaced upwardly from the bottom of the paint spray booth by eight or more feet. Such wide vertical spacing of the floor from the bottom of the paint spray booth is necessary to enable the air scrubber units to completely intermix the air and water together in order to adequately purify the air prior to its exhaust to the atmosphere. This high vertical height of the floor greatly increases the overall cost of the paint spray booth and its installation.
A still further disadvantage of many of these previously known paint spray booths is that the air scrubber units are complicated and expensive in construction. Furthermore, since these previously known air scrubber units are of integral construction, in the event that a component of the air scrubber units gets damaged, the entire air scrubber unit oftentimes must be replaced. This increases the overall cost of maintenance of the air scrubber units.
A still further disadvantage of these previously known air scrubber units is that they inadequately intermix the air and water together so that a portion of the paint particles remain entrained in the air even after the air passes through the air scrubber units and into the lower housing chamber. This is particularly critical for paint spray booths since, due to government regulations, only a very small amount of paint is permitted to remain in the air as it is exhausted from the paint spray booth.